Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

6 reviews

robinks's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this magical, fantasy-tinged memoir. I got sucked into our protagonist’s world and all the events and people that showed up. I was also satisfied with how things turned out for her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Grief, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: Drug use, Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

bashsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars is a magical "memoir" that uses poetry and allegory to show what being a trans femme is like - from running away from home, forming a found family, defending herself, and growing as a woman. Though it uses unreality to prove its points, there are no rose-colored glasses in this short book. Everything is brutal, as the lives of many trans women are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I can't wait to read more by Thom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Classism, Blood, Transphobia, Violence, Death, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Self harm, Stalking, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Medical content

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Drug use

-Usage of the f-slur as an insult.

bookish_afrolatina's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was a super short book and I listened to it on audiobook via the Libby app (library books ftw).

When I first picked this up, the only reference I had for a memoir steeped in magical realism was Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House. I realized very quickly that Fierce Femmes is a completely different thing! While this book is still full of fantastical elements and absurdities, it is a novel/faux memoir.

The main character is a trans girl who is the daughter of Chinese immigrants (in Canada, I believe) who live in a crooked house in a city called Gloom. Her parents are abusive so, although she feels guilty about leaving her sister, she knows running away will be for the best.

The MC is a self-described liar so we already know we have an unreliable narrator, which made this kind of intriguing. I loved the stories of connecting with other femmes in the pleasure district and the MC's journey of enforcing consent. It's a much needed discussion when others feel as though they are entitled to your body.

This novel includes:
transphobia, consent, sex work, drug use and abuse, found family, love, murder, revenge, adventure, and hot ghosts, among other things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Drug use, Murder, Hate crime, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Homophobia, Transphobia, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

yaoipaddle's review

challenging emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Listened to the audiobook. It was just ok. A fun and quick listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Cursing, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Murder, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical content, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Body shaming

wireblight's review

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Transphobia, Grief, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, and Child abuse

podanotherjessi's review

adventurous challenging funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was a very strange experience. I treated it more like non-fiction with heavy metaphor than fiction iwth real life inspiration, but I rated it like I would fiction, so I really don't know. But in any case, I don't agree with every theme the author included in here (opening with "I don't believe in safe spaces" certainly had my back up from the get go), but I do think they are presented in a deep way. The writing style is amazing, and the audiobook narrator includes inflections that make it almost sound like listening so spoken word poetry at every moment. I really enjoyed this book over all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Transphobia